Lost and found 4: three punk records and a book
New episode of our Lost and found with three punk records and a book to discover
After the first edition about hardcore gems, the second about four different punk albums and the third about 4 unmissable books (this one available only in Italian), our Lost and found is back to discover three punk records and a book.
La Furnasetta – Diary Of A Madamina (Solium Records)
Desecrating and unruly sonic terrorists, the characters that pull the strings of “La Furnasetta” move on the blurred border of irony applied to avant-garde music, capturing the interest of the French label “Solium Records”. An album that is certainly not for the most traditionalist palates, harsh noise that steals from cultured music as well as from metal (Sparwasser), without disdaining some dance trash (A Jimmys Dream, A Church Within), a peculiarity that distinguishes La Furnasetta from the canonical harsh noise proposals, if we can speak of canons.
The tracks that make use of ethereal vocal parts (A New Genesi) are enjoyable even for the general listener, who will surely be disconcerted by the lava flows of tracks like Army of Immortals or Mercyful Cake (Ahah) or Autumn on Acid, industrial noises and suffocating hermetic closures, not suitable for claustrophobic people. I don’t know how many Radio Punk readers appreciate the genre, but I find it interesting to deal with the most extreme and experimental genres of music… after all, this is where grindcore was born twenty years ago. Recommended for those who want to try sensorial and disturbing music.
Billycock – You Are not punk Rock
The title and the cover had deceived me and made me think of the umpteenth banal pop-punk album, but this maxi EP has positively impressed me for the excellent use of melodies. We’re in the Alkaline Trio zone, that emo punk that was getting lost in the streets and that, thanks to Minus Hero (a bit more shoegaze to be honest) and Billycock, is finding life again in Latina. The trick? This genre has to be played by people who have not only listened to that but who know how to move on the strings to create riffs and lines that are always different.
In the first three tracks the whole colour palette of melodic punk rock is already impressive, the already mentioned Alkaline trio alternate with Weezer and Dillinger four. Animols unwittingly picks up the logical thread of another excellent Italian album released this year, Komet’s debut, the proof that in Italy there is a good melodic school that can join the already consolidated line-up of excellent hardcore bands.
The emotional feeling that runs through the whole record is that of a positivity that never manages to be fully communicated, a sort of “I’m happy but…” best represented by Figure Out, a song that weaves catchy melodies with threatening moments, vaguely in the style of The Lillingtons. The ballad The World Can Bring Me Down is the only issue of the EP, in the sense that it’s a song that doesn’t really fit in with the historical-musical period we’re in, a 2002 song if you know what I mean, nothing unlistenable though. However, The Flood in Memory is the most epic of the songs on the album, palm-muted verses and an absolutely effective vocal chorus. The final acoustic is a great way to confirm the versatility of this band, and I love the kazoo. I’m curious to see them live.
Leftover Crack – Architects of Self Destruction (Libro)
It cost me a kidney but buying a Leftover Crack book on Amazon was an oxymoron that I didn’t want to lend a hand to. Anyway, I’ve been waiting for a biography of the New York band for years and finally, here it is, with all their ups and downs, contradictions, drugs, life as squatters and vagabonds, rubbish bins used to transport the backline and tied behind the Dropkick Murphy’s bass tour, Hellcat/Epitaph censorship issues, studio recordings with Steve Albini and much more. If you’re a fan, go and buy it, if you’re not, finally here is the biography of a band that listens to Neurosis as well as the Pixies and mixes ska, crust, melodic punk and black metal without ever bending to the market and its demands.
Chubby and the Gang – The Mutt’s Nuts
For God’s sake, will someone explain to these guys how to choose the goddamn singles! From the preview tracks, it objectively sounded like a shitty record, instead, you get this street punk smack in the mouth. Chubby and his gang lay down the law with the first two tracks, after which the pub rock break of Comming Up Tough, which didn’t convince me as a single, makes sense and can be sung pleasantly. There’s no lack of glam oi! (On the Meter, Life on the Bayou), the Jam as well as the Slade and Buzzcocks are present in heavy doses. It’s interesting when Charlie Manning Walker, aka Chubby Charles, plays Shane MacGowan, singing, or rather, singing out of tune on the sweet notes of a ballad called Take me Home To London or Life’s Lemon. The result after a couple of listens reveals its effectiveness: a successful experiment.
A little less pleasant is the hard blues trend of White Rags, a track that lacks the right swing to hit the mark, but the attempt is appreciable. Someones Gunna Die stands out, a melodic street punk played at breakneck speed with a 50’s chorus and a wild harmonica, by far my favourite track of the album, just before Lightning don’t strike twice and the slower I Hate the radio.
Obviously, once again among the band’s trump cards, there is the colourful artwork that makes you want to sit on the sofa and discover and rediscover a thousand secrets of the cover, the art of wasting time messing around that unfortunately seems to have disappeared.
Nick Northern
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